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Lucas Kasloski was doing a bit of hunting on Saturday’s statewide opener of trout season.
The Kingston resident walked Harveys Creek with rod and reel hunting for a certain kind of trout. Soon after the 8 a.m. start Kasloski caught and released three trout and then kept a fourth – a rainbow measuring 12 inches.
But what he really targeted were the trophy browns and golden rainbows that were stocked in the creek.
“Last year I kept trout to eat, and this year I’m looking for something to mount,” Kasloski said.
Other anglers along Harveys Creek suggested the Mentored Youth Fishing Day – held on April 10, resulted in many of the trophy trout being caught. Kasloski said there was one spot along Harveys Creek where six trophy golden rainbows were caught by kids or their mentors, but he wasn’t complaining.
“There’s still a lot of trophies in here. Big browns. You can see them,” Kasloski said pointing to a pool in the creek. “I’ll be here all day trying to get one.”
While the action along Harveys Creek was pretty steady on Saturday, things were a bit slow in other places, especially lakes. While the warm, sunny weather resulted in a high turnout, anglers fishing lakes had to be patient for the fish to bite.
“I started the morning at Lake Frances and they were hitting off and on, and then I came to Moon Lake and not much has happened so far,” said Tyler Peznowski of Wilkes-Barre.
At Lily Lake in Slocum Township, things were just as slow.
“In past years it’s been good, but today nobody’s catching anything,” said Nanticoke resident Kyle Wolfer as he fished near the boat launch at Lily Lake. “I think the water’s too cold.”
Waterways Conservation Officer John Cummings said cold water was an issue at many of the lakes and streams in his district of northern Luzerne and Columbia counties. It’s a result of the hard winter, Cummings said, adding that the water temperature at Harveys Lake on Saturday morning was 38 degrees.
While the fishing may have been slow in places, Cummings was happy to see a good turnout in his district.
“The crowds are reflecting the nice weather,” he said, adding the fishing will pick up as the waters warms.
“It’s just like past years when we had this issue. It means in the next couple of weeks people will really start picking up fish as things warm up. We’ll be stocking many of these places soon, so we’ll probably be stocking fish on top of fish.”
In southern Luzerne County, WCO Aaron Lupacchini started his day at Lake Frances in Nescopeck State Park. He said cars were lined up along Honey Hole Road and Lake Frances Road by 6 a.m.
While the fishing was slow in the lakes, Lupacchini said anglers were doing better in the streams in his district.
“They were doing alright on Nescopeck Creek and Wapwallopen, especially downstream of Church Road,” he said. “But we spread a lot of fish out in places that I didn’t even see any anglers get to yet.”
As far as violations, both Cummings and Lupacchini said there weren’t many problems in the morning. Lupacchini encountered a couple of boating violations at Lily Lake – mainly dealing with anglers who weren’t wearing life jackets, but that was it.
But even if the trout weren’t biting right away, the nice weather kept anglers out and a little more patient to wait.
That was the approach taken by Erick Rhoads of Lansdale as he fished Moon Lake.
“I’m here every opening day and the trout move around this lake,” he said. “They don’t stay put, so you just have to wait for them to come back around, and while you do you just enjoy the day and relax.”